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Travel expenses
Produced by Tolley in partnership
with Philip Rutherford
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Travel expenses
Produced by Tolley in partnership with Philip Rutherford
Introduction
Travel expenses have specific tests which must be satisfied
in order for an employee to gain a deduction. These rules are
different from the general rule for deductibility of expenses in
that they do not need to be incurred ‘wholly and exclusively’.
This is because with any business travel there are likely to be
elements of mixed or private purpose, eg meals taken on a trip,
or overnight accommodation because the employee needs
sleep. Meals and overnight accommodation come under the
heading ‘subsistence’ and expenses on subsistence follow
the rules on business travel. See the Subsistence expenses
guidance note for more information.ITEPA 2003, ss 337 - 339
Travel expenses
In order for a travel expense to be allowable, it must satisfy one
of two tests. Either:
>> it is ‘necessarily incurred in the performance of duties’
(ITEPA 2003, s 337)
>> the travel is ‘for necessary attendance’ (ITEPA 2003, s 338)
In addition to satisfying one of these tests, the employee
must be ‘obliged to incur and pay them as the holder of the
employment’ under ITEPA 2003, ss 337(1)(a) and 338(1)(a).
The test is common to both provisions. Commentary and
examples on both elements of this test, that it be ‘incurred and
paid’ and ‘obliged as holder of the employment’, can be found
in the Business expenses - general rule guidance note.
More about ‘in the performance of duties’ and ‘necessary
attendance’
The employee should have incurred the travel costs either
because it was part of his duties to do so or because he had
to be somewhere other than his normal workplace because of
his employment.
Before considering whether or not the expense satisfies these
tests it must have been incurred necessarily. Just because an
employee decides that it might be better to work in a place
which is different to the one assigned to him by his employer
does not mean it is necessary. Any travel expense to that
location is disallowed.
When are travel expenses not allowable?
Ordinary commuting
Travel from home to a permanent place of work is not
allowable for tax purposes unless it meets one of the specific
exceptions (see EIM32055). If an employee is on secondment,
then his travel costs may be allowable (see the Expenses
during secondments guidance note). But as long as an
individual has chosen where he works ie not on a secondment
or posting, and can choose where he lives, there is no tax relief
for the cost of his travel to and from work.
The key concepts
Permanent workplace
A permanent workplace is a place that an employee attends
on a regular basis in the performance of their duties. The facts
of an employee’s circumstances usually indicate if some
particular location is considered a permanent workplace, such
as the fact that it is their sole place of work, their contract of
employment states that is where they carry out their duties or
the expectation that they attend one site each and every day.
The legislation also defines a permanent workplace as
somewhere which is not a temporary workplace. ITEPA 2003,
s 339
Temporary workplace
A temporary workplace is one attended for a limited duration
or for a temporary purpose. But even if the workplace falls
within this description, the facts should still be looked at to see
if the temporary workplace should be considered a permanent
workplace.
If the employee attends, or intends to attend a workplace for
more than 24 months of continuous employment, it is not
deemed a temporary workplace. ITEPA 2003, s 339(5)
A continuous period of employment is deemed by HMRC
(EIM32080) as being 40% or more of the working time.
Therefore if an employee attends one location for two days
a week for 24 months, it is not a temporary place of work as it
is not for a limited duration. The 24 month rule is considered
in more detail in the Expenses during secondments guidance
note.
These two tests are quite subjective. HMRC looks at the facts
available to see if a workplace is temporary before considering
whether it is really a permanent workplace.
Permanent or temporary workplace - considerations
When considering a permanent workplace, look all of the facts
available. Someone could work in a place on a limited number
of days a week and it could be a permanent place of work.
For example, a regional sales manager comes into HQ every
week for a couple of days to do his administration and have
meetings. He has his own office. This could be considered a
permanent place of work as he spends 40% of his working time
there. It may trigger an enquiry into the employer’s tax affairs
if the employer reimburses the manager’s travel expenses to
HQ, or an enquiry into the manager’s claim if he submits either
a tax return or form P87 for those expenses.
Simply trying to adjust the facts to suit the employee does not
make the amount allowable. The following are examples of
changes that are ineffective:
>> having to start work earlier, later or work different times
>> trying to change a permanent place of work into temporary
place of work by working at home several days a week
>> putting in customer / supplier visits on the normal
commuting trip
HMRC manuals (EIM32300 onwards) provide some useful
examples of when HMRC is likely to challenge a journey as
being ordinary commuting. Some of the main examples to look
out for are:
>> HMRC will not challenge a journey which is more than 10
miles longer than the normal commuting trip even where
there is a similar route. If the journey is in a very different
direction or route, HMRC are unlikely to see it as ordinary
commuting.
>> doing the same or similar journey by a different means, eg
by train instead of car, does not make the cost allowable
>> if a temporary workplace is very near a permanent one, it
is not allowable if the journey starts from the employee’s
usual commuting start place. This is because there is no
substantial effect of the employee’s journey or his costs of
travel and is caught by ITEPA 2003, s 339(7).
What travel expenses are allowable?
Travel to a temporary workplace
Where the employee is required to be somewhere
infrequently, irregularly or for short periods of time, the costs
of travel to that temporary workplace are allowable.
As outlined in the section on permanent workplaces above,
a temporary workplace, as defined by ITEPA 2003, s 339, can
also be somewhere where an employee is required to attend
for less than 24 months or is somewhere which is not be where
the employee spends most of his time of employment.
For example, if a shop manager is asked to work one day
a week for 6 months in another store, the travel costs
associated with his travel to this other store are allowable. The
other store constitutes a temporary workplace and the work is
for a limited duration.
There are a huge number of issues and permutations
regarding temporary places of work. If an employee goes
somewhere regularly for an extended period of time (HMRC’s
consideration of what this means is more than a 40% of time
for a period of, or expected period of, 24 months) it is likely not
to be a temporary place of work.
If this is doubt about whether a workplace is temporary,
it may be worth looking at HMRC’s guidance at EIM32075,
HMRC Note 490 - Employee travel or even approaching
HMRC for an agreement. If you are considering approaching
HMRC for an agreement you should be aware of a number
of issues. HMRC are not obliged to give an agreement in
these circumstances, there is no statutory requirement
for it to do so. If HMRC is willing to agree to something then
it would be on the specific facts brought to them and any
departure from those facts will render the agreement invalid.
Therefore an approach to HMRC should only be considered
where there is a steady state of facts and the taxpayer or the
employer wants certainty.
In practice, you should obtain all of the information about the
employee’s circumstances that are to be presented to HMRC
and ensure all of the issues covered in this guidance note are
addressed.
The employer should open a dialogue either with the
Customer Relationship Manager (for large companies who
have one appointed) or the employer’s PAYE office to ask
whether they are amenable to agreeing the treatment of
particular employees. If they are, ask how they would like
the information to be presented in order to facilitate an
agreement.
One off visits
If the employee has to go to a certain location because of his
employment, the travel costs are allowable.
For example, an engineer has to visit a customer of the
company to check some equipment. The travel costs are
allowable.
Employees may be required to visit customers / suppliers,
attend training events, meetings or undertake other typical
visits that are expected of an employee. Travel costs incurred
for such purposes are allowable.
Travel obligations
For employees who are required to travel from one place
to another as part of their employment, the travel costs are
allowable.
For example, an employee installs boilers for a gas company
and the journeys to customer’s houses are in the performance
of his duties. The travel costs are allowable.
Area employees
If an employee is responsible for an area over which he
performs his duties, the travel expenses within that area are
allowable.
For example, an employee is a supermarket regional manager
responsible for the South West. His travelling expenses for
travel within the South West area are allowable. Note, in this
case if the individual chose to live well outside of his area, eg
London, the expense of travelling from his home to the area
would not be allowable.
Travel between group employments
It may be that if the employer is a company that it is in a
group of companies (holding company and 51% subsidiaries),
the directors or other employees may be employed by
more than one company in the group and have to travel
between locations to carry out the duties of those different
employments. Such employees are entitled to deductions for
the cost of travelling to the other group companies for that
purpose. The definition of holding companies and subsidiaries
are covered in the Associated companies - prior to 1 April 2015
guidance note. In short, if one company can control another,
it is likely to be a 51% subsidiary and fall within these rules. This
can be quite a technical area and reading through the above
guidance note is highly recommended if there is any doubt.
is be a permanent workplace (see the 24 month rule outlined
above). However it is also possible that an employee might be
assigned to one site for all of a period of employment of less
than 24 months. For example, an employee could brought in to
do one specific project on site. In this instance any expenses
would not be allowable as they have spent substantially all of
their employment in one place, falling within ITEPA 2003, s
339(5). EIM32132
Travel cards
The underlying requirement of the expenditure must be
considered. If an employee buys a rail season ticket for their
normal commuting then simply visiting a customer on the
same season ticket does not make any part of the season
ticket cost allowable.
If the employee is required to incur a higher level of
expenditure above his ordinary commute then the additional
amount is allowable.
HMRC’s guidance is at EIM16066 onwards.
Accompanying spouses
Expenses of elected representatives
FA 2013, s 10 introduced a new exemption from tax for the
expenses of Elected Representatives of the Welsh, Northern
Irish and Scottish devolved Assemblies and Parliaments. All
travel expenses relating to the representatives UK travel on
behalf of the Assembly / Parliament are exempt from tax.
Travel expenses which may or may not be
allowable
Site based employees
By far the most difficult class of travel to consider is that of
the site-based employee. This class of employees carry out
their duties at a succession of sites and their places of work
do not readily fit into the definition of what is not a temporary
workplace in ITEPA 2003, s 339(5). For example, construction
workers may have particular difficulty in understanding
whether or not costs are entitled to a deduction.
Consider the facts of each individual separately. It is possible
that an individual could have more than one permanent
place of employment at any one time. It is also conceivable
that an individual could have several permanent places of
employment in one tax year.
Consider each site, examine the facts and determine if it is
a temporary or permanent site. If it is temporary then the
associated travel costs are allowable. If it is permanent then
the travel expenses associated with that site are not allowable.
If the employee works at a site for more than 24 months then it
If an employee’s spouse accompanies him then those
amounts are generally not allowed, unless the spouse’s
travel meets the requirements of being necessarily incurred
for the purposes of the employment or is incidental. These
circumstances are quite rare and the more typical reasons for
spouse’s travel, such as a requirement to attend a particular
function with the employee are not enough. If an employee
is travelling overseas then the accompanying spouse’s
additional costs may be allowable (see EIM31985).
Travel expenses which are not allowable
There has been some useful case law demonstrating when
HMRC will seek to disallow travel expenses because they do
not qualify as business related.
The director of a farming company was refused a deduction
for travel expenses to America to review farming techniques.
Despite the fact that the director believed that this had led to
improvements in domestic farming techniques, the amount
was held not to be deductible because it was not necessary
for him to travel to America as part of the duties of a director
of the company. Thomson v White 43 T C 256
This precedent aligns with the case of a surveyor who
attended a conference of his own volition and not because it
was imposed upon him as a duty of his employment. The costs
of the travel and subsistence associated with the conference
were held to be non-deductible. The fact that the conference
was in Tokyo may have raised HMRC’s concerns. Owen v
Burden 47 T C 476
Level of reimbursement
If an employee is excessively reimbursed for his expenses it
will give rise to one of two issues:
>> if an employer reimburses expenses above the level of
expenditure incurred by the employee, then the excess
should be treated as earnings and included in payroll
>> if an employer reimburses for particularly extravagant
or lavish travelling arrangements, this may give rise to a
benefit charge on the employee
However if an employee has to incur extra expense which is
not reimbursed by the employer then the employee can claim
relief.
For example, if the employee is reimbursed £100 towards a
£150 train fare, the employee can claim tax relief on the excess
£50. This can either be done through the employee’s tax
return on the supplemental employment page (form SA102)
under the title employment expenses. Or if the employee is
not required to complete a tax return he can claim relief on
excess expenses on form P87.